Load testing noise reduction

[Buchan]

I have some land I can use for load testing, but it's close to housing. I normally shoot with a DPT moderator on, but also have a reflex T8 which I'd like to try. Looking on here the general thoughts are that the velocities will not be that much different.
Main question - has anyone set up some sort of baffling system - say a couple of barrels with holes in so the sound is reduced a bit more? Anything so I don't annoy the neighbours!

 

[Apthorpe]

It's a bit iof a lash up but I once taped some old loft insulation to a couple of boards set each side of the barrel. You don't need to attenuate the sound in all directions....well you could, but it may be more effort than it's worth.
I'd imagine a barrel with holes in might be worse than no good...and you don't want to reflect noise or blast back to you. Think of absorbent materials. Some small bales of straw would probably be good.

Realistically, you're probably much more sensitive to the noise than anyone else. Unless you're unwisely close to housing it probably won't bother them at all.

 

[Liveonce]

watched a yiu tube video ages ago, someone was using several old car tires to shoot through the middle of them, making a tunnel out of them.

 

[Heym SR20]

I don’t think sound moderators actually make that much difference to the noise of a rifle when listened to from a few hundred metres away. You still get a substantial crack and also the sound of the bullet impacting what ever is behind the target.

I know that some ranges have experimented with barrels lined with acoustic foam and you shoot through these. But still doesn’t reduce the crack.

If you really want to cut all noise get some 3ft diameter pipe and cover with soil. Even better is a line of shipping containers half buried into the ground and then covered with several feet of soil. But unless you have your own digger it’s likely ti cost lots of money.

In reality if you are doing load testing, how many rounds will you actually fire?

And shoot them slowly. Let the barrel cool between shots. Most won’t even notice such shots. What people notice is lots of shots one after another.

And you really should do the load development with the moderator which you want to use whilst stalking. A different moderator will change the barrel harmonics and thus really will make all your careful load development irrelevant.

There is also a matter of load development- be realistic. Are you trying to win International F Class needing a group size not much bigger than a single bullet at silly distances, or you developing a hunting load. With the later you should have a pretty good load within 20 odd shots if you are lucky. That spread over a couple of sessions and then once you have a load developed it will last for as long as you can still buy the components.

Much more irritating to neighbours is general farm work, pigeon bangers, combines working at night, or cows going into milk at 4am or pig slurry being spread. If you are worried about a particular neighbour then explain what you are doing and offer some venison.

 

[Selous]

watched a yiu tube video ages ago, someone was using several old car tires to shoot through the middle of them, making a tunnel out of them.

I first saw this reported in an old (ancient) copy of Stalking Magazine. Looks to be a viable thing to try

 

[Bowland blades]

If you want to run normal deer hunting loads and have a large mod your pretty much done imho . Have you ever shifted big tires around ? Its blooming hard work

 

[Sika98k]

Some years ago I was offered a Rigby 275 at a relatively modest price that was within my means. Having read the Maneaters of Kumaon and W D M Bells books on Africa I donned my pith helmet and ponied up.
Even thinking of putting a moderator on an old Rigby should lead to being pilloried immediately. At the time I was not a member of a rifle range and the only range offering day membership is nearly 80 miles away. A plan needed to be made.
Somewhere or other I came across something the American snipers used in Vietnam. A pipe lined with fibreglass wool. So I found a length of the black corrugated land drainage piping and lined it with fibreglass wool. I set it up on a Workmate and set up behind it with the muzzle about a foot into the pipe.
Did it work ? Yes to some extent. It didn’t seem to work when shooting as there was some blowback of sound, earmuffs on. However a friend who I had asked to observe said that there was some sound reduction.
Since then with Nosler Partitions 175gr bullets it’s taken its fair share of game abroad. Come to think of it I’ve never shot a deer in Ireland with it. That must change.

 

[Selous]

@Sika98k Love the rifle

 

[Buchan]

Thanks folks, I have some insulation padding kicking about so could try that. Heym - it will be ladder testing, so as you say, not many, but spaced out is a good call, thanks

 

[Mungo]

The Seronera Silencer: park old series landrover (with the horizontal sliding windows), side on to the target.

On the target side of the vehicle, open one window an inch or two. Take your gun around to the other side, open a window just enough to put the muzzle through.

Shoot through the vehicle (taking care to shoot through the open slit in the far side window).

My Dad swore by it…

 

[Heym SR20]

Thanks folks, I have some insulation padding kicking about so could try that. Heym - it will be ladder testing, so as you say, not many, but spaced out is a good call, thanks

You are welcome. A cool barrel between each shot gives you really good consistency. After all its first shot that counts.

When I do a ladder test I just load up one round at each .2 or .3grain increment from start up to max load. Typically this will be about 10 rounds. Shoot them all to same point of aim and over a chrono if you have one. This test does both your pressure test as well as giving you indications of likely nodes where you have two or three rounds that are closer to each other than the rest.

You can then experiment with those and load up 3 or 4 rounds at a couple of nodes and test these for grouping.

Given the price of non toxic bullets this is how I have worked up loads. Use of Quickload and / or mimicking factory loads also helps reduce the number of rounds.

I know that many will disagree, but for vast majority of deer stalking a 1.5” group at 100 yards is more than adequate.

In my experience a barrel will quickly tell you if it likes a bullet / powder combination.

I have done ladder tests where pretty much all the bullets went into a perfectly acceptable group that would pass DSC1 shooting test. I have selected a load that is nice round number in terms of powder charge (easier to remember) and hone hunting.

 

[Heym SR20]

The Seronera Silencer: park old series landrover (with the horizontal sliding windows), side on to the target.

On the target side of the vehicle, open one window an inch or two. Take your gun around to the other side, open a window just enough to put the muzzle through.

Shoot through the vehicle (taking care to shoot through the open slit in the far side window).

My Dad swore by it…

I believe the more sophisticated version, which allowed you to shoot targets that might move and thus require readjustment of your silencer, involved your least favourite apprentice, child or wife remaining at the wheel with engine running so you could mutter instructions as to backwards or forwards a bit as required. He / she did have to lean forward a bit to allow the barrel in through the window.

The apprentice also provided the shielding to the petrol tank. Fir the millennials old series land rovers have their petrol tank under the drivers seat with a big round filling cap that always warped abd never sealed the tank tightly so you always plenty of petrol fumes in the cab. Landrover kindly provided lots of gaps in the body work to let in lots of airflow to stop you from suffering to much the adverse effects of petrol fumes.

However letting off a 375H&H and associated muzzle flash could easily set the petrol ablaze. Fortunately the clever makers of old rifles thought about this and gave them long barrels to hide the muzzle flash. But a least favourite apprentice, or child, spouse etc in the drivers seat would provide additional protection to this happening as well increasing the utility of the silencer. This was a major consideration especially given that Landrovers were bloody expensive and hard to come by.

And it was a lot safer for them
to remain in the vehicle.

 

[shoppe]

Get a blue plastic 200 litre drum and cut the top and bottom out .
Position it on the firing position so your shooting through it. This will help direct the sound towards the target and away from housing.
Like someone said above, creating a tunnel.
I know of some people putting heaps of old tractors tyres, in a dry ditch to create a very effective tunnel.

 

[finnbear270]

We have tyre mods on the range at Wern DDu, we have a db limit for unmoderated rifles, even smaller tyres would do at a push long as you could see thru properly.